Feminization of Indian Agriculture: A Review

Abstract

After liberalization the Indian agriculture went through a phenomenon called feminization of agriculture which means increase the share of women in agricultural work force. However this feminization was not consistent with empowerment as still a these workforce are underpaid as compare to its male counterpart. The differences in participation between men and women workers were lowest to the states with higher share of workers in agriculture. In order to understand the factors determining this phenomenon, constraints causing the impediment the participation and policies to overcome it, a number of literature had been compiled in this paper. Feminization in agriculture occurred due to migration of male work force from agriculture. However, this phenomenon does not consistent with empowerment as women work force are always underpaid. Proportion of land utilized for food grain, per capita income, land holdings were some of the factors which were determining the women’s participation. In order to improve the situation for women government are now focusing on gender budgeting. Besides women’s participation in research work had been encouraging to develop technology which will be suitable for the use of women.